A Georgia nonprofit dedicated to preserving the state's historic treasures is giving $2,500 to help restore a cow barn at the Milledgeville farm of author Flannery O'Connor. The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation says the grant money will go to the Flannery O'Connor-Andalusia Foundation. Andalusia is the 544-acre farm where O'Connor lived and wrote from 1951 until her death in 1964.

Twenty writers in four categories had their names read into history as those nominated for a National Book Award. The finalists were announced at a home with literary history in Savannah. The coastal city was chosen as the place to unveil the national finalists because Flanner O'Connor grew up there.